The invention relates to a shaving system with an improved guard structure.
In replaceable shaving cartridges and disposable razors, one or more blades are secured in a plastic housing. The surface in front of the blade or blades is known as the guard, and the surface behind the blade or blades is known as the cap.
The guard is often provided with a structure designed to engage and stretch the skin in front of the blades, and the cap is generally designed to slide over the skin and in some cases is provided with a water leachable lubricating strip. Published PCT application WO 96/01171, which is hereby incorporated by reference, reviews the disclosure of various forms of guard, cap, and blades in various blade assemblies described in prior art patents. For example, Apprille et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,361 discloses a two-part molded guard structure having an upper skin engaging portion of elastomeric material with a plurality of upwardly projecting protrusions formed thereon and a lower base portion of rigid plastic material that is anchored in the cartridge housing.
Other guard structures are shown in Crook et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,712. Miller et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,222 describes shaving cartridges with spring-biased metal housing members that are located in front of the blades, contain water leachable materials that are exposed between metal webs, and have skin tensioning structures at different locations on the metal housing member.